FIC: "Crevasse Rescue" (7/7)
Crevasse Rescue
By Simarillion
Fandom: Supernatural RPS
Universe: Alternative Universe
Rating: R
Beta: Asm Z
Pairing: Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki, others
Warnings: slash, M/M
Word Count: 3,044
Summary: Tell it like it is. (Of settling and living)
Disclaimer: None of the herein presented happenings and events are true. Everything is 100% fiction and that includes the sexuality of the characters. I don’t claim to be in the know about their relations and private affairs, and I don’t make any money with the creation of this story.
Author’s Note: I changed the age of Jensen and Jared, they are the same age now. The plot wouldn’t really work otherwise.
This is part 4 of the Glaciology! ‘verse. Jensen is a scientist in the field of glaciology and he spends most of his time surrounded by ice, whereas Jared is a Hollywood movie star. Prequel to this story are Invisible Glaciers, Iceberg Anatomy and Avalanches Approaching.
[ Masterpost]
Part Seven
On Thanksgiving, Jensen’s kitchen turns into a war zone. Every step into it is dangerous and results in being chased out by Sara and Jensen’s mum. Mackenzie is the only one who’s allowed inside, and the men are being ordered to stay away.
Josh is drawing with Emily and their dad is reading the paper, petting Dean, who has his head on the man’s knees. With the inactivity Jensen gets restless, and it’s a short step from watching the others entertaining themselves to walking to the back of the garden, and sitting down next to the pond to call Jared.
Ever since his family as arrived Jensen has been so busy with showing them around San Francisco and visiting Stanford, that he’s rarely thought about Jared. With no call from LA, he allowed all the chaos that is the Ackles clan to distract him from worrying about him and Jared. But today is Thanksgiving, and Jensen wants to at least wish the other a pleasurable holiday, even if he seems to have to work.
With a short glance back to the porch, Jensen takes out his phone and dials the number. While waiting for the call to connect, he finds himself once more going over the current situation he finds himself in. Jensen thinks about the silence from Jared and the lack of interest in what Jensen is doing.
The phone rings one, two, three times, and then the other end picks up. The first thing Jensen hears is laughter and a strange male voice talking loudly in the back. Jensen tenses for a second before he reminds himself that Jared is most probably on set, his colleagues hanging out with him during a short break.
“Yeah?” Jared’s voice sounds slightly irritated. Maybe there are problems on set.
“Hey Jared.” He tries to sound calm, and to keep the nerves he feels from showing
“Jensen.” There’s nothing more coming. Jensen wonders if it’s a bad time to call, if he should offer to call later, but then again Jared picked up, and hasn’t said anything about not being able to talk. The weird silence is confusing him.
“Uh, I just wanted to wish you a nice Thanksgiving …” A woman calling Jared’s name has Jensen fall silent. He can hear the background voices better and there are children laughing, and people talking happily. Jensen wonders where Jared is right now
“Okay, thanks. Listen, I’m with my family and we’re about to go to my aunt’s for dinner.” At this Jensen feels something like ice spreading inside him. “Happy Thanksgiving to you as well.”
“Thank you.” When the woman in the back, who could be anyone from Jared’s mum to his sister Jensen’s never met any of them, calls out for Jared again, it becomes clear that this phone call is over.
“I’ll talk to you later, Jensen.” Jared’s voice has lost the tinge of irritation, but he sounds pressured now, probably from everyone preparing to head out.
“Sure. Bye, Jared.” He gets a ‘bye’ as well, and then the line is dead.
Jensen sits there, motionless, taking calming breaths. Jared is in Texas. He never once said anything about going to see his family to Jensen, and they could have flown to Texas together, Jensen’s family wouldn’t have had to drive all the way out here to California.
True, all of them had been excited at the prospect of spending the holiday at Jensen’s place, but the reason why Jensen had proposed it in the first place had been, that he had hoped that maybe there would be the chance to see Jared, and now Jared is in Texas and Jensen is in California.
And he had never even asked if Jensen is visiting his own family.
He stares at the surface of the pond and watches the minute waves that ripple over it when a soft wind disturbs the water. Jared hasn’t even see the finished house and garden, he doesn’t know about the cats and he has never asked about Jensen going to Edmonton for half a week.
So far Jensen has always justified all the things that bother him with Jared having a busy working schedule, and being constantly stressed. But even though he can’t even pick up the phone to send Jensen a message to let him know how Jared is doing, he can fly out to Texas for Thanksgiving.
At once Jensen scolds himself for being envious of Jared’s family. That’s a douchy thing to do, and he refuses to sink to this level.
Pushing the thoughts back into the furthest corner of his mind, Jensen is determined to enjoy today. He’s soon joined by Dean, who curls around his owner and lays his head onto Jensen’s thighs, signaling his desire to be scratched behind the ears. Jensen just does that, carding his fingers through the thick fur.
Jensen lets the tranquility around him rub off onto him, and when his sister calls out, to get the men into the house, he is back to the state of mind he had been in this morning. Dean follows him at a slow trot. The large amount of people swarming around the house, claiming spaces that usually Dean calls his own have cured the husky somewhat from his infatuation with Jensen’s family.
There’s been more than one occasion where the dog had balefully watched the humans sitting on the couch next to Jensen, or people crowding rooms where he wants to be as well. Jensen is sure that he and Dean both will need a day of sleep and recharging once this visit is over. The excitement is very draining.
Jensen starts setting the table together with his dad. Josh is having the usual minor crisis with Emily in the bathroom, who’s supposed to wash her hands. She hates washing her hands, and every time dinner nears, she gets antsy as if waiting for a chance to escape the ‘torture’.
The turkey smells deliciously, and so do the sweet potatoes, the cranberry sauce and all the other ingredients of the feast. They carry everything to the table, and once everyone is seated, and the thanks for the food are said, they start eating. Jensen can’t help moaning with sheer pleasure when he digs in. His mum still makes the best Thanksgiving feast there is.
The others aren’t off much better than Jensen, and for the first half hour conversation is almost non-existent as everyone tries to stuff themselves to the gills. Emily is the only one who can’t keep from chattering. She tells her mum about the picture she made, she asks grandma Sharon if she’ll play with her after dinner, and she makes Mackenzie promise to go and visit the cats later on.
Dean is lying next to Jensen’s chair and he huffs heavily, not so subtly reminding the humans that he’s present and that he would like to eat what they are having as well. When Emily is holding out a piece of turkey, Jensen tells her to keep it and put it into the husky’s dishes later on.
He gets an accusing look from Dean, but when no one goes against Jensen’s orders, the dog just lies down again and waits for the humans to finish their eating.
Once the main course is finished, and the dishes and plates are back in the kitchen, Sara brings the pumpkin pie. They have mulled wine with it, and tea for Emily.
With the main part of eating over, conversation finally returns full force, and they talk about what they did during the last week, and discuss what they still want to do before they have to leave. There are heated discussions about what is important and how much time to spend on what, and the cheerful atmosphere has Jensen smile content.
Looking to is left he catches his mum’s eyes. She’s watching him closely, and when their eyes meet, she smiles warmly at him.
“I’m glad we came here.” She takes a sip from her mulled wine.
“I’m glad all of you were able to come.” Jensen knows he never gave a real explanation on why he wanted to spend Thanksgiving in California, but it’s not like he can just say the truth. They never talked about it, but Jensen knows that Jared prefers their relationship to stay out of the public, and their families are part of that group.
“So, I was thinking, that I could sew you new curtains while I’m here.” Mackenzie next to him snorts into her cup.
“It’s more like she’s been worrying about you having no self-made curtains back in Dallas already.” His sister grins mischievously at Jensen.
“Well, there’s nothing wrong about nice curtains.” Jensen wants to just disappear. He can’t believe that he’s sitting here and talking with his mum about window adornments. Talk about gay clichés.
“Mum, you’re a guest. You aren’t supposed to work while visiting me.” He hopes that this will end the discussion. But he hasn’t counted on Sara joining in the talk, and soon the two women are discussing the merits of blinds, curtains, and shutters.
The rest of the table tries their best to ignore them, and start conversations of their own.
Thankfully the topic of proper window treatments is dealt with once the last of the dirty dishes are stacked into the dish washer. Everyone gathers in the living room, and they pick out one of the movies Jensen bought the day before. Mackenzie had decided that the sorry state of Jensen’s video collection had to be dealt with and so, he had found himself in the next Buy More and browsed through the shelves of DVDs.
Jensen had vetoed the purchase of a Blue Ray Player. With his rarely watching anything but the news or documentaries anyways, there’s no need to buy some over priced new gadget. When Mac insists on him getting an ipod, Jensen promises to return with her on Black Friday and get the mp3 player.
So, now they are settling down on the couch and into chairs. His parents are sitting next to Josh and Sara, while Mackenzie is sitting on the floor, leaning back against them. Jensen has dragged the rocker closer to the TV, and he’s got Emily on his lap and Dean to his feat. When the opening credits start rolling the talking quiets mostly down.
The movie is a family type of movie, and even though some of the jokes are kind of lame, Emily’s excitement and amused laughter is entertaining enough for Jensen. It is the second part of some kind of trilogy, with the sequel coming out next summer. His sister and his brother already know the film, but the others see it for the first time. His parents are having a blast, and Jensen grins as he watches his mum laugh hard at the slapstick comedy of some of the scenes.
They are well into the movie, more than halfway through, when Jensen’s phone starts ringing. The interruption earns him raised eyebrows and boos. He grins chagrined and sets Emily down onto the rocker. With a last apologizing shrug, he heads out to the porch and gets the ringing phone out of his pocket.
Jared’s name on the display surprises him, and he wonders about why Jared is calling him. From what Jensen gathered earlier on, the other is spending the evening at his aunt’s with his family.
He picks up and takes a breath. “Yeah?”
“Hey, Jensen.” Jared sounds much less nerved and stressed than hours ago.
“Hey.” He isn’t really sure what to say. Jensen has been wanting to talk to Jared for so long, but now after the disappointing conversation this afternoon, he just doesn’t know what to do, how to proceed from where they are finding themselves.
“So, I was wondering how Thanksgiving is going with you?” He has to fight hard against the urge to snort loudly.
“It’s going great, thanks.” Jensen doesn’t add anything to that.
“You with your parents?” Jared sounds cautious now, like he’s finally catching on to the tension between them.
“Yeah.” Jensen wonders if he should tell Jared that actually his parents are staying with him and not the other way round. But then he decides that he’ll wait for Jared to ask about specifications.
“Great. That’s great.” Jared clears his throat. This has the effect of making him sound nervous.
“Are you having a great time as well?”
“Yeah, it’s nice to see Meg, and Jeff, and my parents. I haven’t spent any time with them in ages.” It’s not like he’s spent any time with Jensen for almost three months either. But Jensen keeps quiet about that and just grunts his agreement. “How long are you going to be in Dallas? Maybe I can come up. There’s Chris concert the day after tomorrow.”
“I’m not in Dallas, Jared. My family is visiting with me in San Francisco.” Jensen’s catches movement in the bushes and the cats appear. They have acclimated to the increased number of humans, and now even the mother lets Emily and Mac pet her. The feline family greedily devours the bits of roasted Thanksgiving turkey his mum had set aside for them.
“Oh. I didn’t know.” At this Jensen can’t help but snort. Like that comes as a great surprise.
“They’re going to stay until next Saturday.” He can hear laughter from inside the house and suddenly Jensen wants to go back and rejoin his family at watching the stupid movie. “Listen….”
“Are you upset with me?” The question has anger well up in Jensen. He hadn’t been angry before, but he can’t help the heat and pressure building up inside of him.
“Maybe.” Jensen clenches his teeth. “I had at least thought you might tell me you’ll be gone during the holiday.”
“But we hadn’t talked about spending Thanksgiving together.” Because they hadn’t talked about anything at all. But Jensen really doesn’t want to pick a fight with Jared, and he feels stupid quarreling about relationship stuff. He’s been able to go without any of this so far, and he’d really prefer to keep it like that.
“Are you going to be in LA after the holiday?” Jensen decides that once they’ve seen each other again, and spent some time catching up on what has been going on their lives these past few months, things will go back to normal between them.
“No, there’s a part in an independent movie. It’s only a supporting role, but the shoot is set for a month in Vancouver.” It’s kind of telling that Jensen is neither surprised, nor especially sad, about finding out about Jared’s absence. Jared saying he’s around would have been far more shocking.
“I’ll be up in Edmonton in three weeks.” But Jared doesn’t propose they meet, and Jensen thinks that if he really was interested to see him, Jensen shouldn’t have to ask himself. Lately he feels like he’s being a bother for Jared. This is something he never wanted to be, and he refuses to become something that grates on the other’s nerves.
“After that, there’ll be pick ups of the movie we shot now, and my agent called to tell me that the Academy asked about my wanting to host the Academy Awards. There’ll be some negotiating, but it’s very likely that I’ll get the part.” Jensen knows that this is a big deal, and he wants to be happy for Jared, but all he hears is that Jared won’t be around and won’t have time.
The Academy Awards are months away, sometime in February if Jensen remembers correctly, but it won’t just stay with an independent movie and hosting the award show. These are only the things that are already decided. Everything else will be extra.
“That’s great.” He’s aware that he sounds far less enthusiastic than he should, but Jensen doesn’t have the energy to put more happiness into his voice.
Jared is silent after that. Apparently Jensen’s lack of excitement was obvious enough for even him to get. And if there’s one thing Jared doesn’t tolerate, it’s people criticizing or belittling his work. Jensen’s dulled response to Jared’s news seems to fall into this category.
“Well, sorry if it doesn’t meet with your approval.” Jensen is hard pressed to snap back at the pissy comment, but he just sighs and closes his eyes. He really doesn’t want to fight. Not with his own family so close, and Jared’s family probably around somewhere in the background, too.
“No really, it’s great. I’m just worn out from the visit.” Jensen hopes that he can put just enough honesty into his voice to calm Jared down.
There’s no response to his statement. Hopefully the peace is restored again.
Jensen can hear the door behind him open and he knows that the time has come to end the call. There’s no more time to check if everything is alright between them again.
“I have to go. Thanks for the call, and have a great time with the family.” Mac walks over to him and sits down in the chair opposite Jensen. She studies his face closely as he tries to keep from meeting her eyes.
“Bye.” Jared’s dismissal is delivered in the same irritated voice he had in the afternoon. Apparently Jensen hadn’t been successful with patching things up.
“Bye.” He ends the call and pockets the phone. After playing for some more time, he looks up from his hands and looks at his sister.
“Everything alright?” There’s worry as well as curiosity in her voice.
“Sure. Everything’s fine.” He smiles at her. It might not reach his eyes, but it’s enough to have her from asking any other questions. It’s a quality Jensen values of Mac. She knows when it’s the right time to pry and when it isn’t.
“The movie over?” He can hear Emily squealing inside and his mum laugh.
“Yeah.” Mac smiles encouragingly at him. “Want to know how it ends?”
“Of course.” And with that she tells him what he missed. Jensen laughs at some of the surprises at the end and when Josh and Sara join them later, they talk some more about the movie.
continue: Shelf Ice Meander
By Simarillion
Fandom: Supernatural RPS
Universe: Alternative Universe
Rating: R
Beta: Asm Z
Pairing: Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki, others
Warnings: slash, M/M
Word Count: 3,044
Summary: Tell it like it is. (Of settling and living)
Disclaimer: None of the herein presented happenings and events are true. Everything is 100% fiction and that includes the sexuality of the characters. I don’t claim to be in the know about their relations and private affairs, and I don’t make any money with the creation of this story.
Author’s Note: I changed the age of Jensen and Jared, they are the same age now. The plot wouldn’t really work otherwise.
This is part 4 of the Glaciology! ‘verse. Jensen is a scientist in the field of glaciology and he spends most of his time surrounded by ice, whereas Jared is a Hollywood movie star. Prequel to this story are Invisible Glaciers, Iceberg Anatomy and Avalanches Approaching.
[ Masterpost]
Part Seven
On Thanksgiving, Jensen’s kitchen turns into a war zone. Every step into it is dangerous and results in being chased out by Sara and Jensen’s mum. Mackenzie is the only one who’s allowed inside, and the men are being ordered to stay away.
Josh is drawing with Emily and their dad is reading the paper, petting Dean, who has his head on the man’s knees. With the inactivity Jensen gets restless, and it’s a short step from watching the others entertaining themselves to walking to the back of the garden, and sitting down next to the pond to call Jared.
Ever since his family as arrived Jensen has been so busy with showing them around San Francisco and visiting Stanford, that he’s rarely thought about Jared. With no call from LA, he allowed all the chaos that is the Ackles clan to distract him from worrying about him and Jared. But today is Thanksgiving, and Jensen wants to at least wish the other a pleasurable holiday, even if he seems to have to work.
With a short glance back to the porch, Jensen takes out his phone and dials the number. While waiting for the call to connect, he finds himself once more going over the current situation he finds himself in. Jensen thinks about the silence from Jared and the lack of interest in what Jensen is doing.
The phone rings one, two, three times, and then the other end picks up. The first thing Jensen hears is laughter and a strange male voice talking loudly in the back. Jensen tenses for a second before he reminds himself that Jared is most probably on set, his colleagues hanging out with him during a short break.
“Yeah?” Jared’s voice sounds slightly irritated. Maybe there are problems on set.
“Hey Jared.” He tries to sound calm, and to keep the nerves he feels from showing
“Jensen.” There’s nothing more coming. Jensen wonders if it’s a bad time to call, if he should offer to call later, but then again Jared picked up, and hasn’t said anything about not being able to talk. The weird silence is confusing him.
“Uh, I just wanted to wish you a nice Thanksgiving …” A woman calling Jared’s name has Jensen fall silent. He can hear the background voices better and there are children laughing, and people talking happily. Jensen wonders where Jared is right now
“Okay, thanks. Listen, I’m with my family and we’re about to go to my aunt’s for dinner.” At this Jensen feels something like ice spreading inside him. “Happy Thanksgiving to you as well.”
“Thank you.” When the woman in the back, who could be anyone from Jared’s mum to his sister Jensen’s never met any of them, calls out for Jared again, it becomes clear that this phone call is over.
“I’ll talk to you later, Jensen.” Jared’s voice has lost the tinge of irritation, but he sounds pressured now, probably from everyone preparing to head out.
“Sure. Bye, Jared.” He gets a ‘bye’ as well, and then the line is dead.
Jensen sits there, motionless, taking calming breaths. Jared is in Texas. He never once said anything about going to see his family to Jensen, and they could have flown to Texas together, Jensen’s family wouldn’t have had to drive all the way out here to California.
True, all of them had been excited at the prospect of spending the holiday at Jensen’s place, but the reason why Jensen had proposed it in the first place had been, that he had hoped that maybe there would be the chance to see Jared, and now Jared is in Texas and Jensen is in California.
And he had never even asked if Jensen is visiting his own family.
He stares at the surface of the pond and watches the minute waves that ripple over it when a soft wind disturbs the water. Jared hasn’t even see the finished house and garden, he doesn’t know about the cats and he has never asked about Jensen going to Edmonton for half a week.
So far Jensen has always justified all the things that bother him with Jared having a busy working schedule, and being constantly stressed. But even though he can’t even pick up the phone to send Jensen a message to let him know how Jared is doing, he can fly out to Texas for Thanksgiving.
At once Jensen scolds himself for being envious of Jared’s family. That’s a douchy thing to do, and he refuses to sink to this level.
Pushing the thoughts back into the furthest corner of his mind, Jensen is determined to enjoy today. He’s soon joined by Dean, who curls around his owner and lays his head onto Jensen’s thighs, signaling his desire to be scratched behind the ears. Jensen just does that, carding his fingers through the thick fur.
Jensen lets the tranquility around him rub off onto him, and when his sister calls out, to get the men into the house, he is back to the state of mind he had been in this morning. Dean follows him at a slow trot. The large amount of people swarming around the house, claiming spaces that usually Dean calls his own have cured the husky somewhat from his infatuation with Jensen’s family.
There’s been more than one occasion where the dog had balefully watched the humans sitting on the couch next to Jensen, or people crowding rooms where he wants to be as well. Jensen is sure that he and Dean both will need a day of sleep and recharging once this visit is over. The excitement is very draining.
Jensen starts setting the table together with his dad. Josh is having the usual minor crisis with Emily in the bathroom, who’s supposed to wash her hands. She hates washing her hands, and every time dinner nears, she gets antsy as if waiting for a chance to escape the ‘torture’.
The turkey smells deliciously, and so do the sweet potatoes, the cranberry sauce and all the other ingredients of the feast. They carry everything to the table, and once everyone is seated, and the thanks for the food are said, they start eating. Jensen can’t help moaning with sheer pleasure when he digs in. His mum still makes the best Thanksgiving feast there is.
The others aren’t off much better than Jensen, and for the first half hour conversation is almost non-existent as everyone tries to stuff themselves to the gills. Emily is the only one who can’t keep from chattering. She tells her mum about the picture she made, she asks grandma Sharon if she’ll play with her after dinner, and she makes Mackenzie promise to go and visit the cats later on.
Dean is lying next to Jensen’s chair and he huffs heavily, not so subtly reminding the humans that he’s present and that he would like to eat what they are having as well. When Emily is holding out a piece of turkey, Jensen tells her to keep it and put it into the husky’s dishes later on.
He gets an accusing look from Dean, but when no one goes against Jensen’s orders, the dog just lies down again and waits for the humans to finish their eating.
Once the main course is finished, and the dishes and plates are back in the kitchen, Sara brings the pumpkin pie. They have mulled wine with it, and tea for Emily.
With the main part of eating over, conversation finally returns full force, and they talk about what they did during the last week, and discuss what they still want to do before they have to leave. There are heated discussions about what is important and how much time to spend on what, and the cheerful atmosphere has Jensen smile content.
Looking to is left he catches his mum’s eyes. She’s watching him closely, and when their eyes meet, she smiles warmly at him.
“I’m glad we came here.” She takes a sip from her mulled wine.
“I’m glad all of you were able to come.” Jensen knows he never gave a real explanation on why he wanted to spend Thanksgiving in California, but it’s not like he can just say the truth. They never talked about it, but Jensen knows that Jared prefers their relationship to stay out of the public, and their families are part of that group.
“So, I was thinking, that I could sew you new curtains while I’m here.” Mackenzie next to him snorts into her cup.
“It’s more like she’s been worrying about you having no self-made curtains back in Dallas already.” His sister grins mischievously at Jensen.
“Well, there’s nothing wrong about nice curtains.” Jensen wants to just disappear. He can’t believe that he’s sitting here and talking with his mum about window adornments. Talk about gay clichés.
“Mum, you’re a guest. You aren’t supposed to work while visiting me.” He hopes that this will end the discussion. But he hasn’t counted on Sara joining in the talk, and soon the two women are discussing the merits of blinds, curtains, and shutters.
The rest of the table tries their best to ignore them, and start conversations of their own.
Thankfully the topic of proper window treatments is dealt with once the last of the dirty dishes are stacked into the dish washer. Everyone gathers in the living room, and they pick out one of the movies Jensen bought the day before. Mackenzie had decided that the sorry state of Jensen’s video collection had to be dealt with and so, he had found himself in the next Buy More and browsed through the shelves of DVDs.
Jensen had vetoed the purchase of a Blue Ray Player. With his rarely watching anything but the news or documentaries anyways, there’s no need to buy some over priced new gadget. When Mac insists on him getting an ipod, Jensen promises to return with her on Black Friday and get the mp3 player.
So, now they are settling down on the couch and into chairs. His parents are sitting next to Josh and Sara, while Mackenzie is sitting on the floor, leaning back against them. Jensen has dragged the rocker closer to the TV, and he’s got Emily on his lap and Dean to his feat. When the opening credits start rolling the talking quiets mostly down.
The movie is a family type of movie, and even though some of the jokes are kind of lame, Emily’s excitement and amused laughter is entertaining enough for Jensen. It is the second part of some kind of trilogy, with the sequel coming out next summer. His sister and his brother already know the film, but the others see it for the first time. His parents are having a blast, and Jensen grins as he watches his mum laugh hard at the slapstick comedy of some of the scenes.
They are well into the movie, more than halfway through, when Jensen’s phone starts ringing. The interruption earns him raised eyebrows and boos. He grins chagrined and sets Emily down onto the rocker. With a last apologizing shrug, he heads out to the porch and gets the ringing phone out of his pocket.
Jared’s name on the display surprises him, and he wonders about why Jared is calling him. From what Jensen gathered earlier on, the other is spending the evening at his aunt’s with his family.
He picks up and takes a breath. “Yeah?”
“Hey, Jensen.” Jared sounds much less nerved and stressed than hours ago.
“Hey.” He isn’t really sure what to say. Jensen has been wanting to talk to Jared for so long, but now after the disappointing conversation this afternoon, he just doesn’t know what to do, how to proceed from where they are finding themselves.
“So, I was wondering how Thanksgiving is going with you?” He has to fight hard against the urge to snort loudly.
“It’s going great, thanks.” Jensen doesn’t add anything to that.
“You with your parents?” Jared sounds cautious now, like he’s finally catching on to the tension between them.
“Yeah.” Jensen wonders if he should tell Jared that actually his parents are staying with him and not the other way round. But then he decides that he’ll wait for Jared to ask about specifications.
“Great. That’s great.” Jared clears his throat. This has the effect of making him sound nervous.
“Are you having a great time as well?”
“Yeah, it’s nice to see Meg, and Jeff, and my parents. I haven’t spent any time with them in ages.” It’s not like he’s spent any time with Jensen for almost three months either. But Jensen keeps quiet about that and just grunts his agreement. “How long are you going to be in Dallas? Maybe I can come up. There’s Chris concert the day after tomorrow.”
“I’m not in Dallas, Jared. My family is visiting with me in San Francisco.” Jensen’s catches movement in the bushes and the cats appear. They have acclimated to the increased number of humans, and now even the mother lets Emily and Mac pet her. The feline family greedily devours the bits of roasted Thanksgiving turkey his mum had set aside for them.
“Oh. I didn’t know.” At this Jensen can’t help but snort. Like that comes as a great surprise.
“They’re going to stay until next Saturday.” He can hear laughter from inside the house and suddenly Jensen wants to go back and rejoin his family at watching the stupid movie. “Listen….”
“Are you upset with me?” The question has anger well up in Jensen. He hadn’t been angry before, but he can’t help the heat and pressure building up inside of him.
“Maybe.” Jensen clenches his teeth. “I had at least thought you might tell me you’ll be gone during the holiday.”
“But we hadn’t talked about spending Thanksgiving together.” Because they hadn’t talked about anything at all. But Jensen really doesn’t want to pick a fight with Jared, and he feels stupid quarreling about relationship stuff. He’s been able to go without any of this so far, and he’d really prefer to keep it like that.
“Are you going to be in LA after the holiday?” Jensen decides that once they’ve seen each other again, and spent some time catching up on what has been going on their lives these past few months, things will go back to normal between them.
“No, there’s a part in an independent movie. It’s only a supporting role, but the shoot is set for a month in Vancouver.” It’s kind of telling that Jensen is neither surprised, nor especially sad, about finding out about Jared’s absence. Jared saying he’s around would have been far more shocking.
“I’ll be up in Edmonton in three weeks.” But Jared doesn’t propose they meet, and Jensen thinks that if he really was interested to see him, Jensen shouldn’t have to ask himself. Lately he feels like he’s being a bother for Jared. This is something he never wanted to be, and he refuses to become something that grates on the other’s nerves.
“After that, there’ll be pick ups of the movie we shot now, and my agent called to tell me that the Academy asked about my wanting to host the Academy Awards. There’ll be some negotiating, but it’s very likely that I’ll get the part.” Jensen knows that this is a big deal, and he wants to be happy for Jared, but all he hears is that Jared won’t be around and won’t have time.
The Academy Awards are months away, sometime in February if Jensen remembers correctly, but it won’t just stay with an independent movie and hosting the award show. These are only the things that are already decided. Everything else will be extra.
“That’s great.” He’s aware that he sounds far less enthusiastic than he should, but Jensen doesn’t have the energy to put more happiness into his voice.
Jared is silent after that. Apparently Jensen’s lack of excitement was obvious enough for even him to get. And if there’s one thing Jared doesn’t tolerate, it’s people criticizing or belittling his work. Jensen’s dulled response to Jared’s news seems to fall into this category.
“Well, sorry if it doesn’t meet with your approval.” Jensen is hard pressed to snap back at the pissy comment, but he just sighs and closes his eyes. He really doesn’t want to fight. Not with his own family so close, and Jared’s family probably around somewhere in the background, too.
“No really, it’s great. I’m just worn out from the visit.” Jensen hopes that he can put just enough honesty into his voice to calm Jared down.
There’s no response to his statement. Hopefully the peace is restored again.
Jensen can hear the door behind him open and he knows that the time has come to end the call. There’s no more time to check if everything is alright between them again.
“I have to go. Thanks for the call, and have a great time with the family.” Mac walks over to him and sits down in the chair opposite Jensen. She studies his face closely as he tries to keep from meeting her eyes.
“Bye.” Jared’s dismissal is delivered in the same irritated voice he had in the afternoon. Apparently Jensen hadn’t been successful with patching things up.
“Bye.” He ends the call and pockets the phone. After playing for some more time, he looks up from his hands and looks at his sister.
“Everything alright?” There’s worry as well as curiosity in her voice.
“Sure. Everything’s fine.” He smiles at her. It might not reach his eyes, but it’s enough to have her from asking any other questions. It’s a quality Jensen values of Mac. She knows when it’s the right time to pry and when it isn’t.
“The movie over?” He can hear Emily squealing inside and his mum laugh.
“Yeah.” Mac smiles encouragingly at him. “Want to know how it ends?”
“Of course.” And with that she tells him what he missed. Jensen laughs at some of the surprises at the end and when Josh and Sara join them later, they talk some more about the movie.
continue: Shelf Ice Meander